Lithuania may lower school entrance age to six

BNS EN

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Children in Lithuania should attend school from the age of six so that they graduate before they turn 19 or 20, Eugenijus Jovaiša, head of the Seimas Committee on Education and Science, said on Tuesday.

In a school

"Our young people now leave school at the age of 19 or 20, which is quite an age nowadays. We keep young people at school for too long. Therefore, we would like compulsory pre-school education to begin from the age of five and compulsory primary education from the age of six," Jovaisa, an academician, said at a news conference.

"The time has come to unveil this project to the general public," he said while commenting on draft laws prepared for the upcoming spring session.

The ruling Lithuanian Peasant and Green Union (LPGU) will initially propose a complex of guidelines for general education changes during the spring session, the lawmaker said.

The primary school entrance age could be lowered to six, from the current seven, in 2018 at the earliest, Jovaiša said.